Sofia, Bulgaria (SportsNetwork.com) – Top seed Ekaterina Makarova lost
her second straight match this week during Thursday’s round-robin action at
the $750,000 WTA Tournament of Champions.
Sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet doused the Russian U.S. Open
semifinalist Makarova in 6-1, 6-4 fashion on the indoor hardcourt at Armeets
Arena.
Also on Day 3 in Sofia, seventh-seeded rising 21-year-old Venezuelan-born
Spaniard Garbine Muguruza tackled third-seeded Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta
0-6, 6-1, 6-1.
This eight-player season-ending tournament is for players who have won one or
more of the WTA International events during the year but failed to qualify
for the WTA Finals, which was staged in Singapore last week.
This week’s four-woman Serdika Group features Makarova (0-2),
Pennetta (1-1), Cornet (1-1) and Muguruza (2-0). Second seed Dominika
Cibulkova (2-0) heads up the four-player Sredets Group, which also includes
fourth-seeded Andrea Petkovic (1-1), fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro (1-1)
and eighth-seeded Bulgarian favorite Tsvetana Pironkova (0-2).
This six-year-old tournament will move to Zhuhai, China, next year after a
three-year run in Sofia.
